Assessment of Risk Factors of Eco-Friendly and Sustainable Beef Fattening in the Northern Part of Bangladesh

Abstract

The goals of the current study were to evaluate the risk factors involved in livestock production in Bangladesh as well as the current status of the country's cattle farms, the background of farmers conditions, rearing factors, feeding practices, biosecurity conditions, usage of antibiotics and growth promoters, climatic change adjustment, and disease prevalence and treatment strategy. A systematic questionnaire was used to conduct the survey among 300 cattle farms from June 2022 to July 2023. The socioeconomic conditions of farmers, rearing factors, and feeding management of the farm's animals are moderately satisfied. Findings from this study indicated that about 28% of farmers were illiterate. Due to inadequate biosecurity present on the farms, the highly alarming fact that 84% of farms had LSD problems, 13% had FMD problems, and the rest had problems with other diseases. When flocks got affected by contagious and virus diseases, it was concerning that only 22% of farms isolated the diseased animals. According to this survey, just about 11% of farm owners were aware of the long-term effects of antibiotic use. Only about 24% of people knew of the health hazards connected to steroid use. Compared to 5% of farm owners who are knowledgeable about microbial resistance, 93% of farm owners are ignorant about it. The use of steroids as a growth enhancer revealed an inversely significant link with the training and treatment of farm animals (p <0.01). The correlation between educational level and the overall biosecurity measure was inversely significant (p< 0.01). It was found that 63% of farms use steroids as growth enhancers for raising beef cattle due to the early profit. Dexamethasone injections and other steroid-group tablet formulations are used to artificially fatten cattle. The government and proper authority in the livestock industry could take action to tackle the current issues. Farms should be adaptable to climate change-related adjustments and scientific approaches to cattle farming practices.